India Social & Cultural Centre hosts 'India Fest 2012' in Abu Dhabi

[email protected] (S M Farooq)
February 6, 2012

Abu Dhabi, February 6: India Social & Cultural Centre (ISC) Abu Dhabi hosted a three-day 'India Fest 2012' at their premises in Abu Dhabi which was inaugurated by H.E. M.K. Lokesh, Ambassador of India to UAE on February 2.

Chief Guest H.E. Lokesh took tour of the India fest fair through the stalls of exhibitors along with the President of ISC Ramesh Panicker, Cultural Secretary of the Embassy of India, Anuka Chakravarty who was instrumental in bringing cultural troupe from India, Sudhir Kumar Shetty, CEO Global – UAE Exchange Centre, Yogesh Prabhu, Honorary Treasurer and M. Jayaram Rai, Honorary Auditor and other co-members of the executive board of ISC. India Fest 2012 is being supported by Cultural Wing of Embassy of India and hosted by ISC with Gemini Building Materials as the Title Sponsor and Al Masoud Automobiles & Delma Group as the Main Sponsors. Nissan Sunny car is displayed in the ground floor which is the mega raffle prize included in the entry tickets.

The festival will run through 3 days with 5PM to 10 PM on the first day and 1PM to 11 PM on second day and 12AM to 11 PM on the final day. Around 50,000 spectators were expected by the Centre who had conducted these kind of festivals successfully earlier.

The gates were open at 5 PM with various stalls within the multi-storey facility of the Centre exhibited by various institutions, banks, brokers, real estate agents, jewellers, traders and many more business units operating in UAE and elsewhere. On the top floor were various food court stalls arranged by many famous restaurants as well as individuals who displayed and served mouthwatering Indian delicacies. Despite the cold and windy weather on the open top floor, people of various nationalities flocked into the Centre which had open invitations to all though they had to pay a small entrance fee which is loaded with raffle prizes.

There was a stage set on the top floor swimming pool area with dazzling lights and sounds. DJ Dhanush of Radio 105.4 FM along with co-host Aparna opened up the stage show while the Chief Guest arrived on the top floor of the facility, welcoming the guests and the dignitaries. The Chief Guest along with other guests were invited on to the stage including K P Ganesh Babu, Managing Director of Gemini Building Materials, the title sponsors, and Humayun Alam, Assistant General Manager of Al Masoud Automobiles, Padmashree Gangaramani of Al Fara Group, and others.

Entertainment secretary Ashok Kumar welcomed the dignitaries on the dais for the inauguration H.E. Lokesh, accompanied by ISC officials and sponsors lit the inaugural lamp. M A Salam welcomed the dignitaries on the dais and the ISC board of governors.

Ramesh Panicker in his presidential speech thanked the ambassador for visiting and inaugurating the festival and also organizers for putting up such a huge show. He also remembered former president Thomas Varghese who had initiated the first India Fest 2011 and conducted it successfully. He also announced that 5% of earnings of the festival will be allocated to the charity to the needy Indian community. He said last year a substantial amount had been sent to India for the purpose. He requested all the guests and invitees to enjoy the three days of festival with food, fun and entertainment arranged by the Centre.

H.E. M.K. Lokesh spoke on the occasion and commended the efforts and hard work put up by ISC and particularly by the festival organizing committee. He too remembered Thomas Varghese, who had organized this festival for the first time in ISC and thanked him for his vision. He also thanked Anuka Chakravarthy for her efforts in arranging visa and travel of 25 cultural troupe members from India who would be performing over the three days.

Soon after the inauguration were cultural shows by various world renowned musicians and artists who flew all the way from India, Indonesia and Egypt. India's famous Pandit Daya Shanker with his musicians presented a soothing Shehnai (aerophonic instrument) music and entertained the gathering. Pandit Daya Shanker and his troupe were felicitated by ISC's Honorary Auditor Jayarama Rai with roses as a mark of appreciation from Indian community. Followed was a brilliant Egyptian dance performance by Mohammed who gave a stunning presentation of their culture. Entertainment also included Qawwali presentation by the renowned Qawwali singer Jameel Ahmed from India with his 8-member troupe sang catchy qawwali numbers and enthralled the crowd. Couple dance and peacock dance were presented by the Indonesian dance troupe and all the entertainers were widely appreciated and applauded.

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Media Release
June 4,2020

Dr Soofi Anwar, Director Academics of University of Stirling RAK, UAE Campus, has achieved the prestigious professional recognition of Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) UK. He has achieved this milestone through the Stirling Framework for Evidencing Learning and Teaching Enhancement (SFELTE), the Continuing Professional Development Framework (CPD) for learning and teaching at University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. 

He was recognized for this achievement on recently concluded virtual Learning & Teaching Conference-2020 organized by University of Stirling Campus in UK.  He has secured his Ph.D. in Management from University of Azteca, Mexico.

Dr. Soofi Anwar has over 20 years of experience in teaching and academic leadership at higher education level and has worked in leading universities in UAE, Bahrain and India. He was conferred the prestigious Middle East Education Leadership Award, as the Best Professor in Management-2018 in recognition of his academic excellence, exemplary leadership in higher education. Prior to his current role, he has worked on leadership position in Birla Institute of Technology Offshore Campus RAK.

He has completed his MBA from Dept. of Business Administration, Mangalore University in 1999 and his B. Com degree from Canara College Mangaluru.

He has published numerous research papers in management and in the area of teaching and learning in higher education in reputed academic journals and international conferences proceedings. He is a member of editorial board of two leading management journals and engaged in reviewing faculty research publications in the area of management and marketing. 

He is a son of Haji Abdul Khadar Kodijal and Mrs. Mariyamma from Konaje, Mangaluru.

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January 28,2020

Riyadh, Jan 28: The celebration of the 71st Republic Day was held on January 26th by the Central Committee of the Indian Social Forum Riyadh at the Ramada Hotel Auditorium in Riyadh. People from different Indian states and different religious backgrounds were present during the event.

The program was inaugurated with the unity song, Saleem Moulavi– Regional committee member India Fraternity Forum/Riyadh inaugurated the program.

Social Forum Central Committee president Janab Harris Mangaluru chaired the program and welcomed the guests. In his presidential speech he described and uncovered stories of freedom struggle and participants of Indian Muslims for the freedom fight. He urged everyone to fight against unconstitutional Citizenship Amendment Bill which passed by Centre government. He said that the We will continue its agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NRC and would not relent unless the Union government withdrew the Act.

Indian Social Forum Karnataka State Committee member Janab Mohammed Naveed delivered the Republic Day message. He said India was formed based on concept of ‘unity in diversity’ and it becomes every Indians’ responsibility to safeguard it. He expressed concern over CAA, NRC and NPR. Across India, students at other universities are against the Citizenship Amendment Act passed by Centre government.  The law offers amnesty to undocumented migrants from three neighboring Muslim-majority countries but only if they are non-Muslim. Critics say that by excluding Muslims, the law establishes a religious test for Indian citizenship, in violation of the secularism enshrined in India's constitution. The Indians, irrespective of caste, creed, religion and region have firmly resolved to oppose the draconian laws and fascist moves to debar the poor. Constitution granted to every person and citizen of India who are not ready to put them on a test of ideology of RSS and programs of BJP to implement the Brahmanist mind-set. He said that the police atrocities against CAA/NRC/NPR protesters had increased only in BJP-ruled States and  there were several loose ends in the police story about the incidents leading to the firing.

Eng Shahul Hameed – Coordinator of Tamil Nadu Islamic Federation, Dr. Jahangeer Ahmed - Assistant professor/King Saud university, Mohammed Rafi – Gen Secretary of India Fraternity Forum Regional Committee, Mr. Abdul jaleel– Vice President of Indian Islahi Center, Mr. Basha –Member of IFT Executive Council , Mr. Ajmal Hussain – Member of Pravasi Forum central Committee, Younus Wallan – President Humanity Forum Riyadh. All delivered the message on the eve.

Basheer Karandur, General Secretary of Social Forum Central Committee, welcomed the gathering and Social Forum Riyadh Tamilnadu State Committee President Jabir presented the vote of thanks. Abdul Basheer was master of ceremony.

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News Network
June 17,2020

Doha: Qatar Indian Social Forum (QISF) once again set an example that no caste, creed, language and religion comes as hurdle for their humanitarian services and helped to perform last rites of Ramesh who committed suicide in Doha-Qatar.

45-year-old Ramesh son of K. Nagan hailing from Panikulam, Thrissur district in Kerala, who was working as a tailor committed suicide in his house at Ruwias in Qatar on 30th May 2020.

On hearing this news, some of his friends in Kearla informed Mr. Shihab who is also from Thrissur and a member of QISF and the same was brought to the notice of QISF humanitarian team head Mr. Abdul Latheef Madikeri and Basheer Ahmed of Tamil Nadu.

Immediately, the QISF team intervened and contacted the family members of the deceased in India and discussed the matter and consequences of sending the body back home to India in this pandemic COVID 19 situation.

Considering the prevailing situation, the family members gave the consent to bury the body in Qatar itself.

QISF team collected the required documents from the family of the deceased and managed to clear all the necessary formalities from the police department, Health Department, Embassy of India and Hamad Medical Corporation.

Finally, the body of the deceased was buried in Qatar on 7th June 2020 and the copies of all the relevant documents have been handed over to the family members.

The family members of the deceased thanked and applauded the leaders and all the members of QISF for their effective and on time humanitarian service rendered even in this pandemic crisis and having no bias.

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